the scottish national identity

Culturally Scotland can be shown as a nation/having national identity by its collective history, literature and traditions. History is not only an important element in cultural national identity, but in all of the following factors. Historical information is important because Scotland is a country which is steeped in its own history also this information allows a contrast with more modern times or at the very least confirms the root from which Scottish national identity stems. Before the Act of Union 1707 Scotland was a nation state; it had its own government, giving it co

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This of course is not a true portrayal of Scotland but does exist as an external image, due to these promoted identities. ” The Royal seal of approval was allocated to this ‘tartan enterprise’ by Queen Victoria in 1848, “she and Albert even had one of their very own designed. This did not sit well with the Scottish people who felt threatened by this attempt to take over control of their economy. However, even though the tartan we continuously see in the twentieth century, as part of Scottish identity is the Anglicised version it cannot be denied that it is perceived globally as a cultural emblem of Scottish national dress and therefore part of the Scottish identity (stereotypical or not). Although by 1975, under the influence of the oil boom, she had improved her place in this league table to third, this very recent development is quite untypical of the twentieth century trend.

With the end of the Empire, military conscription, secularisation and fifty warless years the support for the Conservatives declined in the 1970’s and 80’s. This period had an important influence on nationalist movements at this time “however, the use of the vernacular by the generation of poets with MacDiarmid headed gained approval from both sides as a means of conserving national distinctiveness. A lot of the Scottish patriotic feelings appear to derive from history of the country, as children we are taught Scottish history in schools “From an early age, this causes Scots to identify national heroes such as Wallace or Bruce…”(MacDermid et al, 1998, p157)

. The Highlands were now seen as ‘old Scotia in its purest form’, untouched and beautiful. This shows that Scots are bound together by an apparent want for more control over their country. During the Renaissance period being Scottish became about not being English. “The major figures included such great names as the poets Sorely, MacLean, Norman MacCaig, Iain Critchon Smith and Edwin Morgan…” (Devine, 1999, p609) and the man who started it all McDiarmid. ” It is clear to see why McCrone portrays this as a pessimistic view as although Tartan and Plaid is the traditional national dress it has had a very complicated history of first being repressed then stolen for military dress and then Anglicised and reinvented as fashionable dress. In 1997 Labour conducted a referendum in which Scottish voters voted ‘yes’ to devolution.

Common topics in this essay:
Bill Miller, British Empire, Tartan Plaid, Scotland Wales, British Scottish, Trowse Shoulderbelts, North American, Identity Defining, Culturally Scotland, Romanticism Highlands, national identity, scottish national, scottish national identity, national dress, union 1707, twentieth century, scottish identity, al 1998 p157, scotlands relative, century scotland, tartan plaid, devine 1999, et al 1998, act union 1707, scottish national dress,

Approximate Word count = 2162
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

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